


Phone Calls

by somethingnerdythiswaycomes



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Donald Ressler Has Emotions, F/M, Phone Calls & Telephones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-23
Updated: 2014-01-23
Packaged: 2018-01-09 17:57:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1149082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somethingnerdythiswaycomes/pseuds/somethingnerdythiswaycomes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The calls started two days after Ressler was released from the hospital, and were always at a time when Elizabeth should either be working or sleeping.  They were invariably about how unfair it was that Audrey was engaged to someone else.  That is, until they weren't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Phone Calls

**Author's Note:**

> based on my own tumblr post: "i bet lizzie’s like number 2 on donald’s speed dial so when he was thinking about audrey in the middle of the night he could just hit 2 and call her and be like ‘but why did she get engaged to someone else' and lizzie would be like 'its two in the fucking morning ressler'"

The calls started five days after Raymond Reddington escaped from Anslo Garrick and the FBI, and two days after Donald Ressler was released from the hospital.

The first one, Elizabeth ignored.  If there was anything new on Reddington, the call wouldn’t be coming from ‘Ressler- personal’ at 3 AM.  Especially not when he hadn’t been restored to active duty yet.  Besides, she reasoned, Reddington never contacted Ressler, and if it turned out to be anything important, they would be breaking down her door.  So when Tom murmured something against her neck, she hit ‘ignore’, put her phone back down, and settled back against him.

Only for her phone to start blaring again five minutes later.  She glanced at the caller ID and groaned, accepting the call and balancing the phone on her ear so she could put her arm down.

Before she could say anything, Ressler’s voice came through, slurring out, “Why’d she go an’ do it?”

“Are you drunk?” Elizabeth asked, pushing herself up a little bit.  Tom groaned and tried to pull her closer, but she batted his hand away.  “Ressler, you’re still on Vicodin.  You shouldn’t be drinking.”

“Stopped Vic’din this mornin’,” he mumbled, sounding like the phone was smushed against his face.

Elizabeth sighed, sitting up against the headboard.  This was obviously going to be a long phone call.  “You’re still supposed to be on that,” she told him, rubbing her eyes to try to wake up a little more.  “It’s for the pain, Ressler.”

“Can deal wit’ pain in m’leg,” he told her.  She rolled her eyes.  “Pain in m’ _heart_ I _can’t_.”

“You said there was a girl that did something,” Elizabeth said slowly.  “Who is she?”

“Audrey,” Ressler sighed.  Elizabeth heard a thump over the phone.

“Did you fall?” she asked, even though Ressler didn’t make any noises to show he was in pain.

“Nah,” he replied.  “‘m getting’ in bed.”

“So.  Audrey.”

“She’s gettin’ married,” he moaned.  “Why’s she _doin_ ‘ that?”

“Because she loves him?” Elizabeth guessed, running a hand through her hair.

“Used t’love _me_ ,” Ressler muttered petulantly.  Elizabeth pursed her lips.  That explained the drinking and the phone call, then.

“Drink some water,” Elizabeth ordered him.  “Do that, and then go to sleep.  Take your Vicodin when you need it; don’t not take it just so you can drink, Ressler.  If you want to talk about how your ex-fiancée is getting married then call me at a normal time, okay?”

She waited for a reply, but the only one she got was a loud snore.  With a huff, she hung up the phone and slid back into place next to Tom.

 

 

.oOo.

 

The next phone call was the next night, at a more respectable 2 AM.  Tom had gone to bed, but Elizabeth was still up going over a few documents Meera had passed her on the way out.  She didn’t even glance at the caller ID when she answered the call, saying, “Keen.”

“Hey.”

“Ressler,” Elizabeth sighed, dropping her cheek into her palm.  “What is it?”

“I called you last night.”

“It was really early morning.”

“Right.”  He cleared his throat, and she could imagine how he would be shifting from foot to foot if he wasn’t restricted to sitting whenever he could.  “Well.”

“Is there a point to this call?” She asked, then sighed, remembering how fragile he had seemed last night.  “Not to be rude.”

“It is normal to move on that fast?” He asked suddenly, after a few moments of silence.  “I mean, we were together for four years before we got engaged, and we were engaged for a year before she broke it off, and she’s only known this guy for two years.  She’s dated him for less than that!  So it’s odd that she’s engaged now, right?”

“Ressler,” Elizabeth said, pinching the bridge of her nose.  “Are you asking me for relationship advice?”

“No,” he replied immediately, then laughed uneasily, the sound mangled through the phone.  “Of course not.”

She sighed.  “Maybe it was love at first sight for them.”

“But isn’t that weird?” he asked again.  “To come out of a long relationship and get into another long-term one with someone else, just like that?  No, like, mourning period?”

“It’s not like you _died_ ,” Elizabeth snapped.  “Besides, if she broke off the engagement, she was probably unhappy for a while before she actually did that.  So it would be easier for her to find someone pretty fast after.”

“She did seem pretty unhappy,” Ressler replied slowly, thoughtfully.  Sadly.  “She looked happier when she visited me in the hospital.”

“That’s a good thing,” Elizabeth pointed out, just in case he couldn’t see it.  “You still love her, and she’s happy now.  It should be good to see her happy.”

“Yeah,” he sighed.  “I like seeing her happy.  I just wish it was me making her happy, y’know?”

It struck Elizabeth, suddenly, how vulnerable Ressler was.  The impenetrable fortress of Agent Ressler, voluntarily opening his gates to her over the phone at 2 in the morning.

“I know,” she replied quietly.  “It’ll get easier.”

“You have lots of experience?” he asked, half-joking and half-serious.

“Enough.”

“You and Tom seem happy together,” he offered.

“Yeah, we do, don’t we?” She replied.  Before he could respond, she continued, “I have some files to go over.  Try calling during daylight next time.”

“I’ll try,” he said.  “Everything going all right at the Post Office?”

“No news on Red yet,” she told him, “but we’re holding down the fort just fine without big bad Agent Ressler there.”

He laughed.  “I probably deserve that.  All right, take care of yourself.”

“You, too.  Take those Vicodin when you need them.”  To the sound of his grumbled protests, she hung up.

 

 

.oOo.

 

Her phone went off the next night, but it was Tom’s nudge to her side that woke her up.  “Phone,” he mumbled, then rolled over, leaving her to scrabble for her phone on the nightstand

“Keen,” she managed through a yawn, opening one eye just enough to read the numbers on the clock.

“But why did she get engaged to someone else?”

“It’s four in the fucking morning, Ressler.”

“You were sleeping, weren’t you,” he replied.

“What do _you_ think?” she asked.

“Look, I know I said I would call during the day, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about her.  It’s not as bad during the day.  There’s always something on T.V., and books, and everything.  But at night, I just start thinking and I can’t _stop_.”

“I know what you mean,” she replied quietly, glancing over at Tom’s bare back.  “Everything’s quiet, so you can’t help but think about everything you don’t want to think about.”

“Exactly!” he exclaimed.  “Like, I don’t know why she chose this guy, out of everyone else.  From what she’s told me, he isn’t anything special.”

“He doesn’t have to seem special to you to be special to her,” Elizabeth told him.

“But we’re not even similar at all!”

“There isn’t one specific type of person that you’re stuck loving for your entire life,” Elizabeth snapped, making Tom reach back and smack her on the hip.  She sighed and continued more quietly, “She can love two people that are completely different, Ressler.  That’s not strange.  I know that it’s a shock that she’s moving on, but maybe this can be a chance for you to move on, too.  Now that you know she isn’t an option, you can try dating someone else.”

“Yeah, find someone else that will get sick of my long hours and constant canceling,” Ressler muttered.

“She could compare notes with Tom,” she replied.  Tom glanced back at the mention of his name, but Elizabeth just flashed him a quick smile and he settled back again.  As soon as he was facing away, the smile dropped.  “It might take some time, but you’ll find someone.”

“Thanks.”

“Can I go back to sleep now?”

“Yeah.”

She was about to hang up, then paused.  “You start on half-duty today, don’t you?”

“Yeah, half-duty until the doctor clears me to use a cane.”

“See you at the Post Office, then.”

“See you then.”

Elizabeth stayed on the phone for another few seconds.  When she heard Donald taking in a breath to say something else, she hung up.

 

 

.oOo.

 

The next night, at 1 AM, her phone flashed a call from ‘Donald.’  She stared at it for a few seconds, considering not answering it, before she sighed and held it up to her ear.

“Do you have me on speed dial or something?”

A pause.  “No.”

“You definitely do.”

“I have all the important people on the team on speed dial,” Donald replied, sounding far more laid-back than he had in their previous late-night conversations.  He sounded more at ease than he had at the Post Office, as well.

“You just admitted I’m important,” she said, surprised

“I called you when I was drunk to complain about my ex-fiancée, I think that’s more embarrassing than saying something we both know is true.”

“That was almost sweet, Donald.”

He laughed quietly.  “Yeah, these drugs they gave me…”

She laughed as well.  “Sure, that’s why.  Blame the meds.”

They were both silent for a moment.

“I have you on speed dial, too,” she said.  “Ahead of Reddington.  Figured you would be happy about that.”

“Really?” he asked, and she could hear the squeak of a leather chair as he shifted.  “I’ll make sure to tell him.”

“You beat out the Chinese food place, too,” she added.  “Meera’s still ahead of you though.”

“I guess I’ll have to take a hit out on her,” Donald said with a sigh.

“…Did you just make a joke?” she asked incredulously.

“I’ve made jokes before,” he replied, affronted.

“Not sure that you have.”

The rest of their conversation continued in the same vein, and continued until almost 2 AM.  It was only after she hung up that Elizabeth realized Donald hadn’t mentioned Audrey once.

 

 

.oOo.

 

Donald started calling every night, sometime between midnight and three AM.  Tom had tried to convince her to turn her ringer off, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.  She told him it was in case Cooper or Meera was calling with something about Reddington, but it was really because she didn’t want to miss Donald’s nightly call.  Then he tried to convince her not to answer, but she couldn’t do that either.  After the second 3 AM call, Tom bought ear plugs and tried to argue about it most mornings, instead of every.

Then Tom started sleeping on the couch.

Eighteen days after Reddington escaped, fifteen days after Donald had been released from the hospital, and after fifteen late-night phone calls, Tom left to stay at his friend’s apartment.

The next day, Elizabeth stopped wearing her wedding ring.

Donald called her at four AM.  She was awake.

“You weren’t wearing your wedding ring today,” he said as soon as she picked up.

“Great observation,” she replied, lying flat on her back on her bed.  “You should have gone into profiling.”

“I’m just trying to see if you’re all right,” he snapped.  “I didn’t want to say anything at the Post Office, but I know since everything with Angel Station you two have been rocky, so—”

“Everything’s been rocky since Reddington dragged me into this,” she retorted.  “Tom and I were _fine_ , and then the hours got longer and I had to cancel all the time, and he got _stabbed_ because of me!”

“Out of everyone on this team, I’m the one that understands, Liz,” Donald told her firmly.  “Audrey left me for the same reasons, minus the stabbing, of course.  Reddington has a way of drawing you in, making you chase him, so all you _can_ do is chase him.  It’s hard to escape that.”

“I should have gotten away the first time Tom suggested it,” Elizabeth sighed.

“When was that?”

“When he woke up in the hospital and realized I hadn’t already left the team.”

Donald chuckled softly.  “Yeah, I could see that.”  He paused for a moment.  “What was the final straw?”

 _Your calls_ , she wanted to say, but didn’t.  “Just everything building up, he said.”

Actually, Tom had said (shouted) that if she was going to have an affair, she should at least have the dignity not to talk on the phone with her lover while she was lying next to her husband.

“That’s what Audrey said it was, too.  She said she couldn’t deal with it anymore, that it had all just been building up inside her for ages.”

“Yeah,” Liz replied, distractedly.  That’s the first time Donald had mentioned Audrey in a while.  He also didn’t sound too upset about her anymore.  He sounded like he was talking about an old friend, instead of the ex-fiancée that had driven him to drinking only two weeks ago.  What had happened?

“You sound tired,” he said, actually sounding concerned.  “You should get some rest.”

“I probably won’t be able to sleep,” she replied honestly.  “We fought after your call last night.  I didn’t sleep after that, either.”

He paused.  She waited.  “Do you want to keep talking?  I don’t need sleep.”

She managed a small smile.  “If you’re sure.”

He cleared his throat.  “When I got out of the hospital, I was watching all this T.V., right?  Well, there was this movie on once, about these giant robots fighting giant aliens that were invading earth.”

“Giant robots and aliens?” she repeated.

“Yeah, so the main character…”

He kept talking about movies and shows he’d watched while he’d been banned from coming in to the Post Office, a constant stream of chatter.  Slowly, gradually, Elizabeth drifted to sleep with his voice in her ear.

When her alarm went off to wake her for work, she checked her call log; he’d talked to her for two and a half hours.

 

 

.oOo.

 

Donald opened up more and more, started _caring_ more and more.  Made Elizabeth care more and more.

And then, when they were undercover in Hungary, he started talking about Audrey again.  It was like a bucket of water being poured over her, like almost caring too much about her teammate and being callously stopped short.  They’d only started talking outside of the Post Office because of Audrey; just because Donald had stopped talking about her didn’t mean he didn’t still love her.

Then they were in their office, and it was just like their first few phone calls.  _Why would she get engaged to someone else_ and _why doesn’t she still love me_.

And then Elizabeth was going home to her empty house, Tom’s things officially gone, not expecting a call until late that night.  Seeing Audrey would probably make Donald upset, but he wouldn’t call right after their meal.  He always seemed to wait until later when he was more upset.

So she ate the Chinese food she had brought home with her and went to bed.

At eleven, her phone rang.  She woke up and glanced at the caller ID, frowning when she saw it was Donald.

“Hey,” she said when she picked up the phone.

“Hi,” he replied, sounding out of breath.

“How did dinner with Audrey go?” She asked, for lack of anything else to say.  “I figured you wouldn’t be calling until much later.”

“She said she wanted to test out our relationship again,” he said in a rush.  “She and fiancé 2.0 are on a break.”

“Good for you,” she said, swallowing around the lump in her throat.  “Make sure you don’t cancel too many dates this time around.”

“She said she couldn’t stop thinking about me,” he continued, as if she hadn’t said anything, still speaking quickly.  He was breathing quickly, too, as if he was walking fast.  “Not since she saw me in the hospital.”

“You couldn’t stop thinking about her either,” Elizabeth pointed out, closing her eyes.  “It’s perfect.”

“I did stop thinking about her,” he said loudly.  “You’re a profiler, Liz, you’re supposed to notice these things.”

“You stopped talking about her when you called,” she answered automatically, because she had stopped thinking.  “I thought it was weird but I didn’t…”

“My leg’s hurting, can you open the door?”

“What?” she asked, sitting straight up in bed.

“I’m at your door, and I need to sit before my leg gives out.”

Elizabeth jumped out of bed, keeping the phone to her ear as she darted through the house.  “You idiot, is that why you were breathing so heavily?  Did you _walk_ here?  Your doctor still wants you to take it easy!”

“I am taking it easy!” Donald replied, but he was laughing.  Elizabeth finally got to the door and unlocked it quickly, pulling it open so she could catch the smile on his face.  “This was important,” he said, into the phone but meeting her eyes.  Elizabeth stepped back from the door, letting Donald limp in and over to the first chair he saw.

“What’s so important?  Something about Reddington?”  She asked, hanging up the call.

“You think he would tell me if it was anything important?” Donald asked, raising his eyebrows.  Elizabeth shrugged.  “No, it’s…”  He tried to lever himself out of the chair, but couldn’t manage it without a pained grimace.  “You mind?” he asked, gesturing to the chair next to his.

Elizabeth smiled slightly and sat in the chair, leaning slightly towards him.

In a flash, he had a hand cupping the back of her head, tugging her forward and into a gentle kiss.  Elizabeth froze for a moment, then twisted just enough to get a better angle to kiss him.  She brought her hand up to rest on his chest, fingers curling around his tie.  He kissed her harder, tilting his head to slant his lips against hers.

Then he pulled away an inch, and her eyes opened after a moment, to find he was looking at her.

“I stopped thinking about Audrey because I was thinking about you,” he told her clearly.  “I wasn’t still in love with her.  I haven’t been in love with her for a while, I don’t think.  I was just…trying to hold onto the past.”

“Now you can hold onto me instead,” she told him, kissing him softly again.  She pulled back after a moment, and extricated herself from his hold.  “Come on, you said lying down is better for your leg, right?”

 

 

.oOo.

 

Twenty-six days after Reddington escaped, twenty-three days after Donald was released from the hospital, and after twenty-two late and one slightly earlier phone call, Elizabeth’s phone rang at three AM.

She ducked out from under Donald’s arm to reach her phone, and as soon as she answered, growled out, “I swear to God, Donald, if you’re calling from right next to me in bed, I am going to rip out your throat.”

“Agent Keen,” Cooper said, making her eyes widen.  “We need you to come in.”

“Yes, Sir,” she replied, not daring to say anything else.

“Agent Ressler, as well,” he added.  “And tell him to leave his phone on from now on.”

“Who is it?” Donald took that exact moment to ask, nuzzling the back of her neck.  “I thought I had a monopoly on your late-night phone calls.”

“I’ll be sure to tell him, Assistant Director Cooper,” she ground out, making Donald freeze, and then slowly let go of her.

“You do that,” he replied, and then hung up.

“We have to go in,” Elizabeth said, twisting to look back at Donald.  He kissed her softly, running a hand down her side softly.  “Next time, leave your phone on.  Orders from on high.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a smile.  “Bet you’re conditioned to waking up to your phone, anyway.”

“It’s all your fault,” she pointed out, kicking the sheets off and starting to get out of bed, before Donald tugged her back.

“I take full responsibility,” he responded, grinning at her.  “Got me you, didn’t it?”

**Author's Note:**

> currently unbeta'd.
> 
> thanks to everyone on tumblr that fucking loved the idea, especially desperateploy (on tumblr)/snicklefritz (on ao3) for supporting all the ridiculous shit i post
> 
> cross-posted to tumblr (url: somethingnerdythiswaycomes)


End file.
